End of Service for the Weather Underground API

We’re contacting you today to tell you about some upcoming changes to the Weather Underground (WU) API and what these changes mean for you.

The WU API has been around since 2010 to help you develop apps and websites as well as manage your Personal Weather Station data. During that time, we’ve watched you build amazing products and visualize weather data with creativity and purpose.

Over the years, our infrastructure has struggled to keep up with the growing numbers of users coming to us for API data. We realized we needed to make changes to ensure the highest level of quality, performance and uptime for our API users.

As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to retire the Weather Underground API. The Weather Company, which acquired WU back in 2012, offers a powerful suite of enterprise-grade APIs that might be better suited to meet your scale and performance needs while offering a broader range of weather data. You can see these products here.

Here’s what you need to know going forward:

Your subscriptions, and therefore access, will continue to work through 12/31/2018.

If you are a paying WU API customer, you will receive a call from a representative from The Weather Company, and IBM business, to discuss transition options to other API services. If you’d like to have these conversations sooner, contact us.

If you are a Personal Weather Station owner, you will receive more information about our plan to offer free access to the data you provide to Weather Underground. We’ll reach out once that plan has been finalized.

The WU Forum will continue to be the best place to connect, keep you informed, share your feedback and get your questions answered as we go through this process.

We are grateful for your commitment to Weather Underground and appreciate your understanding and support as we work through this process. These changes will allow us to continually improve our services and develop new features to keep WU a thriving place for you for many years to come.

Mariano, that about sums it up. I've been accused by said representative of being 'a bit dramatic' by suggesting that even those PWS owners that will continue to get API access will nevertheless decide to take their data elsewhere. Wunderground as we know it will die a slow, painful death, which is probably what IBM have in mind. Without PWS data and without an API, and without a community or crowd-sourced ethos (doesn't go hand-in-hand with the IBM corporate ethos) what really is left of WU? Begin carving the headstone...

That's an extremely broad question that calls on me to make a wide variety of assumptions.

A) For the short term, I don't think it affects you at all. Assuming your PWS id and API key are both linked to the same email address, then we should put the two together and will keep your key. If you'd prefer not to leave that to chance, you can email me your PWS id and API key, and I will make sure that it does not get turned off.

B) Some time after the first of the year, there will be a portal where you can sign up for a key for the new API. We anticipate giving PWS owners/uploaders a month to transition to the new API once it is ready. We will post more information about that on the Forum. Because many, perhaps most PWS uploaders do ﻿not﻿ use the API, there is unlikely to be a direct email blast to PWS owners (as some have requested from me), as it would only be confusing. If, however, you would like to have ﻿me﻿ email you, so that you don't have to keep checking back to the Forum, that is a service I am willing to provide. I plan to do that as a standard feature for everyone who signs up on my list by providing their PWS ID and API key.

C) Once the new API is ready and you have your new key, you will need to rewrite the calls that your sprinkler controller makes for information. You will not, as I currently understand it, need to redo anything with uploading your data to Weather Underground.

One point to make here: is it ﻿necessary﻿ to have an API call to get this information? I think the answer is no. If you store your own PWS information on your own computer, you can, I think, get what you need from there without any API at all. But every installation of equipment is going to be unique, and I cannot pretend to know how all of those various machines work, much less work together. But as a programmer myself, I can understand how it is possible to avoid the API call altogether. This is not to discourage anyone from using our API (or any other), but simply to note that there are other possibilities as well.

I don't know if this answers all the questions you (or others) have, so if not, please let me know. Anyone who wants to sign up their PWS/API key can email me below.

Thank you for the response, Victoria. I think your paragraph A answered my question. The on-board software of the RainMachine calls for an API key and the PWS ID, which are currently both embedded in the software and both are linked to the same e-mail. So, I will not worry about this any further. I appreciate your response. Happy Holidays to you!

As I noted elsewhere, I have answered your emails, and I find it reprehensible that you are pretending otherwise here in a public forum. The many, many people who email me directly all know that I answer quickly, often within an hour. I will not be bullied or gaslighted.

For everyone else: I know I have said this a million times, all I can do is suggest that there will be an opportunity to shift. The December 31 deadline is becoming weaker all the time, that is, less likely to be enforced.

<a href=3D"https://apicommunity.wunderground.com/weatherapi/people/mcihany"= style=3D"box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(48,83,147);text-decoration-line:n=one;background:rgb(242,242,242);font-family:&quot;Source Sans Pro&quot;,Hel=vetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13.5px">mcihany</a>=C2=A0on WU forum.<div=><div>I was send detail info before with <a href=3D"mailto:cihan@cihanyeter=.com">cihan@cihanyeter.com</a> but no one return me.</div><div>I want to le=arn price of 300.000 calls per day 10 day hourly weather forecast and curre=nt weather and also I wonder new api will same json format?</div></div></di=v></div>

I don't think anyone here envisions there being a time limit on how long PWS owner/uploaders will have access. They are going to be switching over to a new API, and that new API we hope will have its own healthy lifespan.

A lot of PWS owners have no need for an API for their connections. So not all PWS owners are even affected by the change.

Hello !! Ihave sew today taht the api response with a 503 error, so i have visit the website and i saw that the service is ended !!!As a personnal user (100 calls / day max) , what is the way to have access to the "new" api explained in this post ?

I'm not sure if you have a personal weather station or not. PWS owners who upload their data to Weather Underground will continue to have access to the current API until we transition over to the new one.

If you just use the API, then the answer is less clear. I am waiting for more information so that I may provide a clear response. But if those 100 calls/day are critical for you, you may want to start investigating other platforms.

Unfortunatelly IBM is not known to be different in social skill than the guys from WU were. I canceled my subscripion today. May IBM become happy with the rest of WU to feed Deep Thunder. I never had such bad experiences with a business partner I had with the WU guys. And the IBM staff wasn't different in the last months. I wrote emails to so many responsibles from IBW/Watson/Weather Channel but nobody cared about me losing my whole project due to suddenly occuring and for long time not fixed API bugs. Just one guy who appologized for the behaviour of all involved persons. Victoria, what I could read hear in your comments, I am convinced that you are working for IBM since a longer time.

Victoria, I have been uploading data to WU for years and I have a few API keys associated with my account. I pull data onto self built internet of things type devices (Wifi device with a small screen). In addition I pull my data to display along side my solar panel output (Enphase as well as PVOutput) as well. Will we be restricted to a single API key or any existing keys we have as a provider of upload data?

I ask this because I do not control the read rate for the Enphase and PVOutput uses. It uses the API key to track the temperature out at the solar array. The other devices I have coded to grab data at various intervals typically well within the free use restrictions set up previously.

I have not read the other two pages of response so you may have covered this already. If not please respond. Thanks.

BTW - My Upload station ID is KTXAUSTI234. If you can figure out why my station is not reporting on the MapBox map that would be cool. The Wondermap is fine. Odd???

I'm going to start with your PWS station. What do you mean by "not reporting on the map"? Do you mean the map that shows wind/temp readings, to the left of the temperature on the PWS dashboard?

Yes, at this point the plan is to have one API key available per person. I looked through the data usage for all your keys, and you are well under the data limits we're considering for the new API. Is there use beyond your current keys that I should look at or consider? If so, please email me directly.

I don't see the little icon for the wind and temp. If another station is selected mine disappears and is not visible. If I select Wondermap then it shows up. Odd and I noted it started to do this about a month ago.

As for the API's... it will be slightly painful for me to consolidate to a single API key but it can be done. I used separate API keys to keep track of the individual devices that pulled data. If I now consolidate it will be more difficult to find out if any single device is acting up.

As an electrical engineer/hobbyist I created a number of small weather station devices. I have about four of those spread from office to home and garage. I also have an irrigation controller (OpenSprinkler) that uses API data to change irrigation ON times. For good or bad I took out new API keys for each one. Luckily I enabled a web interface to configure all of the devices so I just need to reboot the devices in config mode and via my phone I can setup the API key as well as what SSID to connect to. Lastly I have a large solar array in my backyard that I report local weather via yet another API key to both PVOutput as well as my Solar Inverter supplier Enphase Energy. Both of those web interfaces provide a graphical means of observing my production live via the net. So you can see I have quite a need to maintain the API keys if possible. If a single key is the ONLY supported solution then I can modify the devices as time permits.

"...when more information becomes available..." what a frigging joke. End of service 12/31 and 20 days prior to that, no information is available? ... and people still believe that something in regards to granting them access will happen? L O L.... It is just great to see how IBM behaves - never again a single Dollar supporting them.

Terry, I think IBM is more worried about companies like ClimaCell than individual PWS owners. And I don't mean that in a negative way; the Acu-rite deal for IBM really ensures they'll keep a lot of data for basically nothing from all those $100 weather stations being sold this Christmas.

People with the high-end station who want to use an API are a niche within a niche, and any large company has to prioritize their spend.

Victoria - I think another email blast to API users would help. I'm a user AND a PWS uploader, but I didn't know that my API access would continue to work past the deadline. I've passed that info on to a few other users in Reddit who also upload and weren't aware of it. I appreciate your efforts but I think a clarification would help greatly. Up until a few minutes ago, I thought I was losing access on 12/31 and then waiting on a new solution/API to arrive. Finding out otherwise was a great relief.

I'll do my best to spread the news, but it's always better coming from an official at the organization rather than second hand.

I appreciate your input, Robert (comment above David's), but we've tried email blasts, multiple times over the past three months, and if you haven't gotten it yet, it seems unlikely it would work in the future. Thank you for your efforts to keep the information flowing around the Web! If there are sites you think I should visit and spread information on, I would be happy to hear of them.

Particularly for PWS owners/uploaders, many do not use the API at all, don't even have keys, and telling them that something about WU is going down only sows confusion. So while we've made efforts to contact API keyholders, there has been nothing directed specifically to PWS owners. You may see some of that confusion in your postings.

I don't yet have an estimated time of arrival for the method for obtaining keys (which we internally have been calling a portal, I don't know if that will stick or not). I will post again when it's ready!

I don't think the image-related access is available on the PWS API. It is on The Weather Company's paid API. If that's not correct, I'll come back and edit this.

Any plans for a public beta test of the new PWS API? I dad a quick look at the new documentation. I hope the new API has something like an OpenAPI3.0 (OAS 3.0) spec, so that we can easily generate client code (and you can easily generate the online documentation). That would make adaptation and switch from the old API much faster.

As a customer of WU migrating to IBM Weather is totally disappointing, WU was giving ALL data including hourly, forcast and current weather in a single API call, with IBM Weather you need to do 3 calls to get the same data and this skyrockets the cost of the service. How can you discontinue a service without providing a valid alternative? I need to get 10 days forecast, current weather and hourly weather in a single call to use the service, how can i do that?

If its going to count as 3 calls it has no use for me as i would have to change the billing model, i will just switch to another provider. I see IBM has become the new "embrace and destroy" company, RHEL will be next. Good luck.

This is more of an FYI but I am a registered PWS owner and never got a email this was happening (and nothing in my spam folder either). Fortunately a weather app I use mentioned this in their update this week so I only now found out. I’ve signed up to follow this thread. I assume that’s the best way to be kept informed?

PWS owners per se were not notified, since many do not use the API at all. Do you have an API key? If so, you might want to drop me an email with your API key and PWS id, and I will make sure they stay married together through the process.

We did try to notify all the API key holders, but there somehow seems to have been a lot of holes. Anyone who is concerned about not falling into that hole again should feel free to drop me an email, and I will send out updates directly. But we will also post announcements on this Forum.

We are a "Stratus - Drizzle" subscriber and the first warning I received about the API expiring is when I my monthly billing email informed me today that my subscription had expired. At first I thought maybe it was the credit card that had expired, but googling quickly brought me to this forum and thread. It appears as if email blasts were not sent to all contacts?

Thanks. I get a daily spam filters report for my email account and I didn't run across it there, and when I checked the last 35 days in the spam web portal it wasn't there, either. Do you know when, approximately, the communication(s) were sent out?

I'm sure this may be considered unpopular, but while it's a PITA to have to figure out new code and access or hope your favorite project is going to adapt, at least we were warned and we're being given a path to move to at no cost and access up until we do. And they are responding and doing so respectfully. Documents exist and guidelines. Tangible things instead of promises.

Now compare this with how Logitech handled closing off access to a local device API without warning, through a silent firmware update that mentioned nothing about it in the release notes! Then they double down by saying it affected a 'few users'. People are calling for a pitchfork raid. And only terse replies that they don't plan on reversing the decision. Period. No interaction.

In comparison, WU seems to have a much firmer grasp on their own API situation. Victoria deserves a little more respect as the point person who has to deal with this; a decision she may or may not have had any material input on. I think she's doing a yeoman's task and doing an admirable job given the circumstances.

I have seen no explanation if why its necessary to change the api other than bad programers. No reasion i can see why the old api cant keep working with quotos changed.... so why cant it? Only reason i can see it they want to kick off all existing accounts. If someone wants to explain why the api needs to he changed and why the new one cant be backward compatable i would like to see that.

As I answered elsewhere, the old WU API is being closed for reasons that were determined long ago. Backward compatible API are not trivial to build. Arguing about these sorts of details now will not change anything.

I'm sorry that this change is difficult, but the change is necessary. We appreciate that customers going through this transition with us are also struggling. Thank you for your continued efforts!

So, I was in touch with Victoria a few days ago and she was super nice and friendly and really tried to help.

For the data I supply to WU, what I needed in return was access to my data and hourly temperature forecasts for the next 8 hours. Turns out this forecast information is not in the free package so I would have to pay (high?) monthly fees to be able to get it. So in the end the only thing I could get for free, that I need, is my own data.

Since my weather station is a hard-coded appliance, I was kind of stuck. But, as I am also a programmer :) I managed to redirect my own outgoing data to a server on my local network and read & store it to disk (not very hard). I found another site (like WU used to be in the beginning) so I wrote a simple script to convert and forward them my data instead. In return I get free access to loads of information, limited in numbers but still plenty high for personal use. Sorry WU, I wish you all the best but I too will be turning off my feed to you pretty soon. I wanted to stay with you but you gave me no reasonable choice.

"So in the end the only thing I could get for free, that I need, is my own data."

That's value ;)

Jokes aside, there's lots of services out there, some of them geared to higher volumes; if you dig through this thread, you'll find several of them; I saw one that had 10,000 free calls a day, they provide soap or restful services, and they didn't require you to send them any data.

As I said previously (and not to sound like a broken record), any developer who doesn't abstract away the physical interfaces in his code is going to be subject to all sorts of problems and frustrations as weather data becomes more of a commodity and free tiers go away.

Robert, Thanks for the link. I'm using old ambient weather software which is horribly broken (and they have no intention of fixing), so I need some new software that gives me better control then the stilted template system that it uses.

I wanted to use the WeeWX because I like the built-in templates, but I didn't want to set up a Linux PC to run it. Someone offered to give me an older Mac laptop (circa 2010), which isn't fast, but it doesn't need to be.

I just need to see if it supports the old Vantage Pro 1; I've done a lot of work on that station over the past 10 years to keep it operational, including reflowing a lot of solder on the main board because the years of heat/cool cycles had begun to crack some of the solder joints.

It should support it since it's the same protocol. I just need to see if there's a Serial to USB adapter for the Mac that will work with it.

I’m not familiar with the software you are using but if you need something cheap to run Linux a Raspbery Pi would likely be sufficient. They run Linux. You would want to check that there is a driver for your adapter of course. A Pi Zero W (WiFi) is only $10 had has a USB port. Full size Pis are $35. $10 isnt’ free but the savings in electricity might be worth it. You’d need a keyboard, mouse and HDMI to set up it initially. After that it can run headless (accessed via SSH).

Even the former model2 of RPI has ethernet. It's cheaper - beceause there is no wifi and bluetooth onboard - but I don't know whether it's still available or not. Check here.Probably it's out of production. (I can't get prices from Hungary)

Tom - I'm almost positive that there is a build image for WeeWX for the Pi, or at the very least easy step by step instructions for install on Debian, the Pi's OS. I remember looking into it for this very reason and now that I have a spare Pi, I think I'm going to take a shot at installing it.

As a client of WU moving to IBM Weather is absolutely baffling, WU was giving ALL information including hourly, forcast and current climate in a solitary API call, with IBM Weather you have to complete 3 calls to get similar information and this skyrockets the expense of the administration. How might you cease an administration without giving a substantial option? I have to get 10 days estimate, current climate and hourly climate in a solitary call to utilize the administration, how might I do that?

Well I was going to stay with WU and supply weather data but seeing that I as a data supplier with 2 weather stations and I will have to make 3 API calls to get the same data I am getting now in 1 API call is simply f**kery.

On Dec. 31, 2018 I will stop all data. Worse business call I have seen in a long time.

This page still says "continue to work though 12/31/2018" but it also claims:For developers who use WU API data for non-commercial purposes, you will have access to a new plan for a personal use, low call volume API. Stay
tuned for more details as we build this out.

Come on guys and gals, we are 72 hours from shutdown and things are still going to happen 'any minute now real soon, honest' .. this has been hanging around for MONTHS now, how come it still ain't sorted. Did anyone notice that the next 72 hours are mostly vacations anyway??!

I should add that if English is not your native language, please do not hesitate to email me in whatever language you want. If it's not one I know, I'll hit it with a translator, and we can work together to understand one another.

I am comfortable in French, Russian, Uzbek and Persian, and can work with Italian, German, Spanish and Arabic as well. No need to limit yourself to one language.

Off-topicCongrats! Your languages skills seem to be really impressive! But I warn you to use translators from/to whatever language.From and to Hungarian/English i.e. is still a mess. :(No wonder: this languages are that different so I can't imagine a useful solution in the near future. (Except: AI makes a break-through)On

As someone who just received a PWS for Christmas with the intent of hooking it into WU [something I have never done before], will this shutdown be an issue if I don't get around to setting it up until after the 31st?

Well lets be transparent here on what this means. No Vince, you can always send data to WU. They want you to send them data. It's free to them and they want your free data so that they might sell it. What is being discussed here is getting data back out, and that... depending upon the circumstance will cost you. Read the End Of Service announcement fully and decide if this may impact you or not.

Exactly and for us data sharing our weather data to pull data is going to awkward on 2 fronts.

1. The data will take 3 API calls instead of the current 1.
2. The data we pull is only free for our data. I won't be able to pull data from my elderly parents location to be alerted of bad weather, I'll have to pay for that.

Change is hard. But you're running ahead of the facts, Scott. I'm sorry I cannot publicly expand beyond that, but the range of data and the amount of data we're going to allow for in the new API is sufficient for the vast majority of PWS owner/uploaders. I have looked at stats from literally thousands of keys, and I want to reassure PWS owner/uploaders that the change is unlikely to have any significant effect, beyond needed to recode the call(s) for the vast majority.

Many many users never call 3 things. Many PWS owners don't even use the API. For any PWS owners out there who are still concerned, drop me an email, and let me look at your data use, and provide some personalized responses. I don't spend a lot of time with one-size-fits all answers here because users are so brilliantly diverse.

I put my personal email address on this Forum ﻿because﻿ I'm trying to be as accessible as I can be. I appreciate the many people who make use of it.

Victoria I think it is you, well not you exactly, but the IBM coders/developers that is flat out lying and you are spreading that lie.

Let's go through the current API.....

1) I get a API key to share the weather data from a product I spent hundreds for and have to maintain2) In return WU was so happy they gave us API users free access to any data we needed in 1 API call....... that was awesome and a fair exchange3) Greedy IBM/TWC buys WU and dismantles item 2 above.

Not only do we still have item 1 above but now IBM/TWC has done the following to screw us...

1) Yes we still get free data but it is limited to the data we provide2) To get that data we have to make 3 API calls to get the same data from the WU API key3) Those 3 API calls are counted as 3 separate calls against our allotted NEW mysterious allowance4) Every app that used WU for weather is now screwed and there are over 2 dozen app's and sites that will A) deal with it or B) forget using IBM/TWC API.

So who is getting the shaft here ? US, WE are.

And another point to make I shared data from 2 stations and I recently bought a Ambient Weather Station for another location. So because of this lame greedy change in the way the API works for the future guess who WON'T get my free data from 3 stations that I paid hundreds for ?

This is utterly wrong.... it punishes US that provide FREE data tgo YOU. And we DON'T make WU get our data from 3 API calls from US.

That's the fact jack.... now pass that on to your bosses and see if this hammers it in.

Hi Scott.I will comment this again because it's worth stating.The fact is they don't care about the smaller users who have apps and make API calls. I think they actually wish the small users would go away. All that support ? why would they want that ? No way they admit that however. But I believe it.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who have weather stations that don't do any programming and just freely and blindly upload their data for no other reason than to just join the community. IBM knows this very well, those people are their bread and butter, no matter how bad they screw everyone those people will still be sending their data.

Those people won't even know a change happened. They don't have apps and they don't follow the bulletin boards or even know anything about this. This undoubtable makes IBM very, very happy. They have a blind following that will not change or stop uploading their data. So, loosing a few hundreds or less will make no difference to them at all.

Okay, so you're pointing an accusing finger at IBM for having a business plan that you can only guess at? Perhaps the accusing finger ought to go back to whoever it was that sold WU back in the day to The Weather Company. That was the end of WU as you knew it. IBM had nothing to do with that. And complaining about it now does nothing at all.

The current API is being deprecated because it no longer works well. This requires changes. All change is hard. I'm sorry that you're taking the change so hard, but there's little I can do about that.

IBM/TWC is not going to change the way we send our data to them forFREE, why would they ? To many weather stations have that coded into the firmware which usually can't be updated and the GREEDY IBM/TWC knows this....

They are going to make the $$$ at is the new 3 API call that will make them tons of cash.

Scott, you keep harping on this, but ﻿we're not asking for any money﻿ from PWS owners, so how in the world would this "make money"? Data limits for PWS owners will be increased.

I'm sorry that you're so unhappy, but it seems odd to me that you're spending so much time putting so many responses in this Forum attacking something you haven't seen. Your vindictiveness is rather counter-productive for everyone. Might you not find some other pass-time?

Isn't it rather dumb to end the current service before everyone has had a good chance to play with the replacement? Normally you run both in parallel for several months or more. Maybe they are, and I missed the new one so far?

For PWS owners that is exactly the case. The old API will still be working and it seems like next week there will finally be an official announcement about the new API. The documentation of the new API has been public for a while, so we kind of know what to expect from it.

Yes, normal software upgrades have the new interface available before the old one is discontinued. There is still no information about the new API other than the comment "Stay tuned for more details".

Since the old API supposedly ends tomorrow and there is no replacement yet, it seems rather obvious wunderground doesn't want to support anything anymore. People are more than welcome to contribute their PWS data but there will be no way for anyone to access it.

I have read this entire forum thread today and my personal end-of-year bottom line on the topic is that I hope this will be archived somewhere forever as a prime example of what becomes of once honorable community projects in the hands of a big corporation.

Extra Kudos to Victoria for her heroic PR, personally taking most of the blame for her employer month after month while IBM is apparently running this once-great community project exactly by the big-business books:Suck value out of the asset as fast as you can, smile to the public in front of you while on the backside you shit on those who built your property and can't stop you ruining it.In Victorias shoes, I would have quit long ago or got very sick from bad consciousness. I hope she earns at least a very substantial income for holding her head out.

I have moved all my customer's API business away from WU and switched them over to OWM.

Yep, Victoria has been helpful, in the face of some pretty unpleasant postings. If I was moderating this forum, a few folks would be taking a posting holiday by now.

However I can't ignore how dumb IBM have been ( and I used to spend several $m with them here in the uk, when mainframes ruled the earth). You don't do 'turn it off' over the xmas and new year break, you don't do 'turn it off' until the replacement is running like a hose, and you don't go on saying 'watch this space' month after month when the space remains vacant.